


A Simple Lesson On How To Make Soup

by Cinnabunni



Series: Restaurant AU [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Caring Scrooge McDuck, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Parent Scrooge McDuck, Work Up For Adoption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22538866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnabunni/pseuds/Cinnabunni
Summary: Gyro was eleven when he met Scrooge McDuck. He was afraid that he was going to leave as well, but he never did. So, Gyro took a chance.ORHow Gyro and Scrooge met in the restaurant AU.
Relationships: Gyro Gearloose & Scrooge McDuck
Series: Restaurant AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1582468
Comments: 9
Kudos: 55





	A Simple Lesson On How To Make Soup

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Some_Dumb_Lesbian_Bitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Some_Dumb_Lesbian_Bitch/gifts).



Gyro lived in the orphanage for as long as he could remember.

He always lived in the same one, too. Same room, same adults, different kids. Children would always come and go, and there were too many different kids that he would have to share a room with, make friends with them, only for his new friend to leave and never talk to him again. That’s why Gyro started to become cold to the other kids-he refused to get close to them, in order not to get hurt again and again and  _ again. _

Besides, it wasn’t too hard to be rude to the other kids; most of them would bully him ruthlessly. It ranged from physically or verbally attacking him, destroying his own property (that would hurt worse than any punch or kick he got-he worked very hard to earn his money to buy all of his books, only for them to be destroyed), or simply being blamed for anything that happened, so he had to deal with all the punishments.

But what he hated most were the kids that stayed silent. The kids who would look at him with pity in their eyes, but didn’t do anything, and went on with their business. And the adults weren’t any better, either; they would ignore what was right in front of them and would smile at him. He hated that no one would stand up for him-or  _ anyone _ , really-and pretend that everything was fine.

Nothing would really stay consistent in his life-and the things that did, he disliked with a passion. He stayed in the same room for years, being cooped up reading, and nothing changed in the room. It was the same walls, the same bed, the same bookshelf, and the same desk. He would have new books, but that was rare. And he had to deal with new roommates every so often, but all he would do was introduce himself, and go back to his book. The kids never seemed to mind, never wanting to take the time to know Gyro. And Gyro didn’t care, either.

He always wanted to go into the kitchen. Cooking fascinated him, and he wanted to learn something. He was dying to get his hands to do something, to get a new hobby to put his mind somewhere else. But they never let the kids into the kitchen. No matter how much he begged and pleaded, no one would let him in the kitchen. He knew it was because the adults didn’t trust any kid to be in there; a kid might make a huge mess, or try to poison some other kid, or any other scenario an adult might think that a kid can do. But that didn’t stop him from trying to sneak in the kitchen multiple times. He didn’t really help his reputation at the orphanage, since he was blamed for almost all the other incidents, but he honestly never really cared for that. He just wanted to learn to cook.

So, he started to read a lot of cookbooks. Ranging from rules in the kitchen and safety hazards, to recipes of certain foods and desserts he had always wanted to make. He stopped reading as much of his fantasy stories and found everything he could on cooking.

And when Scrooge McDuck arrived at the orphanage, Gyro wasn’t sure how to feel.

When Gyro was eleven years old, Scrooge started to come by the orphanage to drop off a big pot of soup for the kids. He would come by every month to drop off the soup, but he wouldn’t stay for long. Just to drop off the soup. Gyro absolutely  _ loved _ the soup. How most of the days when Scrooge dropped it off was of Gyro asking the adult who had recently spoke to Scrooge to find out what type of soup it was, then do research as much as he could about said soup, until the next month, and Scrooge had the next soup.

Gyro was afraid that one day Scrooge would stop showing up. He knew that he owned a restaurant not far from the orphanage, and if everybody got to taste the spectacular cooking of Scrooge McDuck, then surely business would be booming, and he wouldn’t have time to something like make soup for an orphanage a few blocks down the street.

But he never forgot about them. Every month, he would come to drop off soup. And for once, Gyro started to get comfortable with the idea that there’s one constant person in his life-even though he’s never spoken to him before. It took almost a year-right before his twelfth birthday-that Gyro racked up the courage to talk to Scrooge when he was there. Well, in fact he mostly wanted to ask him a question: to teach him how to cook soup. He figured that Scrooge would be his only way to learn to cook while he lived in that orphanage.

When he heard the doorbell ring, Gyro knew who it was. He ran down the hallways, ignoring all the kids yelling at him, and to the door, and there he was. Scrooge McDuck. He watched as Scrooge handed over the soup to one of the adults, as he racked up the courage to go talk to him. But, just then, he started out, running all of the ‘what ifs’ through his head. Just then, he heard the door closed, and his attention was brought towards one of the caretakers, heading off to the kitchen with the soup.

“No! No, no, no!” Gyro quickly ran over to the door and opened, catching Scrooge walking off the property. “Mr. McDuck! Wait just a moment!” That seemed to catch his attention, as he turned around and watched the scrawny kid run over to him.

“Hm? What is it, lad? I haven’t got all day, you know,” Scrooge said, and when Gyro caught up to him, panting (He hasn’t exercise in  _ ages _ ), he blurted out his question without hesitation.

“Can you teach me how to make soup?” Scrooge was silent for a few moments, as the two held eye contact.

“Why would you want  _ me _ to teach you how to make soup? It should be fairly easy for a lad like you, it’s not like you need a professional.”

Gyro looked down, studying the concrete underneath his feet. “I just… I want to learn how to cook, but the orphanage doesn’t let anyone near the kitchen, especially me. I wa-want to learn how to cook, so I want to learn how to ma-make soup,” he stuttered, slowly bringing his arms up, hugging himself. They both stayed silent for some time, until Scrooge sighed.

“Alright, laddie. I’ll teach you how to cook.” Gyro’s head shot up, meeting Scrooge’s gaze.

“You-you mean it? You’ll teach me.”

“Of course, lad. Wouldn’t want anyone to have a missed opportunity to learn something, just because of they're home life. Come now,” he said, and began to walk. “We’ll be heading to my restaurant. You asked in a mighty good time, too. The restaurant’s under renovations, so it’s closed.” So the two began to walk, with Gyro mostly trailing behind, keeping his head down.

“So, what’s your name, lad?” Scrooge said, breaking the silence.

“Oh! Uh, my name’s Gyro, sir.”

“And you said that you’ve never had any cooking experience?”

“I mean, well, I never actually  _ cooked _ anything, but I did read up on all of the basics of cooking, different meals I would like to try and make,-”

Scrooge scoffed. “Please lad, you need actual experience before you try to make huge meals.”

“I know _ that _ . That’s why I asked to make soup,” Gyro said, and that was the end of that. There was more silence, but it didn’t feel as awkward for Gyro. It wasn’t long until they arrived at the restaurant.

“You said that it was under renovations, right? So how come we can still use the kitchen?” Gyro questioned.

“They’re just working on the dining area for now, so the kitchen should be fine,” he answered, as they went inside. The restaurant for the most part was empty, the building being filled with different construction noises. As they walked to the kitchen, Gyro noticed that half of the building was being covered with a long, black wall.

“How big is the renovation going to be?” 

“Almost twice as big as the original size. I’ve been getting so many new customers, I need a bigger space,” Scrooge said, as they entered the kitchen. Gyro was amazed by the sheer size of it. His eyes locked onto almost everything little thing inside of the room, marveling at all the things inside. “Now then,” Scrooge started, catching Gyro’s attention. “What type of soup do you want to make, lad?”

“Oh, uh, I never really thought about that… I-”

“UNCLE SCROOGE!” Gyro was interrupted by little girl’s voice, and saw a blur of white feathers run past him. The little girl grabbed onto the end of Scrooge’s coat, looking up at him. She looked young-possibly around seven or so- and she wore a brown winter coat, her bobbed hair ending at her shoulders. 

“What is it, lass? Can’t you see that I’m busy at the moment?” She finally noticed Gyro in the room, and she gave him a big smile, and waved.

“Oh! Hi! I’m Della! My brother is around here somewhere, so you can meet him sometime soon!”

“What do you mean ‘around here somewhere’? Where is he, lass?” Scrooge asked..

“Well, that’s the thing I wanted to tell you, Uncle Scrooge. You see,  _ Gladstone- _ ”

“Don’t blame  _ me _ for this!” Another voice piped up, and Gyro’s attention was brought over to two young ducklings, lingering in the doorway. The one that spoke had a green shirt with golden, curly hair, and looked about the same age as the girl. The other one looked younger-possibly around five-who wore a bright red hat, with a matching shirt. “Donnie was the one that disappeared!”

“Yeah, but you weren’t watching him!”

“I was watching Fethry! You were supposed to watch him! He’s your brother after all!”

“ENOUGH!” Scrooge yelled, ceasing the argument between the two. He turned to Della. “Lass, go find your brother before he gets himself injured. Gladstone, help Della, but also make sure that Fethry doesn’t run off as well.” 

“Yes, Uncle Scrooge,” The two (Gyro already forget their names) said in unison, as Gladstone took Fethry’s hand, and the three left the kitchen. Scrooge started to grumble about how the kids were going to be the death of him someday, and Gyro felt extremely uncomfortable.

“Um, sir?”

“Hm? What is it, lad?”

“I-if you want, we could always do this on another day-you seem very busy with one of your nephews going missing, and I wouldn’t want-”

“Ah, it’s fine, lad. Those four always can always handle any situation that’s thrown at them. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Now then, what type of soup did you want to make?” Gyro had completely forgotten that question, and said the first type of soup that came to mind.

“Clam Chowder.” 

“Clam Chowder, eh? Shouldn’t be too hard. Do you know how to clean clams?” And that was how it begun. Scrooge was surprised by how much Gyro already knew, and would help him every now and again, giving him tips. But, there were two things that would put him on edge: when Scrooge left the kitchen, and when the kids would come and bother him. When Scrooge left for one reason or another, Gyro’s anxiety skyrocketed. He worried that he might do the wrong thing, ruin the whole dish, burn down the kitchen, or anything of the sort. He would freeze up, afraid to do anything. But when Scrooge would come back, he would say that he was doing a good job and to keep it up.

When the children showed, up Scrooge went over (and left Gyro alone, so of course he started to freak out) to fret over the children. Gyro saw a new child that he didn’t recognize-he assumed that that was the lost child-who looked no older than five, and had a bright blue sailor outfit on. When Scrooge left for a while to deal with some business, the kids went over to talk to him. And that put stress on Gyro like nothing has before.

“So, why are you here?” Della asked, her eyes sparkling in wonder. Gyro didn’t answer her, focusing on the soup. Though he didn’t answer, it didn’t stop her or her cousins from asking questions. “What’s your name anyway?”

“Why did you want to learn how to make soup?” The green one asked.

“Can I have some when your finished?” The hat one asked, a smile on his face.

The three continued to ask questions, and Gyro tried, for the most part, to answer their questions. He wasn’t fond of children in the first place, and trying to cook while three children were talking to him was stressing him out beyond belief. He wasn’t too good at multitasking, and he guessed this was just an incentive to work on that. He felt himself getting angry; he wasn’t sure entirely at what, though. He couldn’t tell if he was angry at the kids, that just kept on talking without stopping, at Scrooge for not hurrying up at whatever he was doing so he could control his niece and nephews, or at himself for not being able to handle the situation better.

“Hush already! Can’t you see I’m busy!?” Gyro snapped, silencing the kids. The kids’ faces immediately fell, catching the attention of the blue duckling, coming over to the scene, and held his sister’s hand. Gyro felt guilty as soon as the words came out of his mouth, and just stared at the kids, not knowing what to do, as they stared at him back.

The blue-cladded duck whisper something into his sister’s ear, and when she shook her head violently at him, he rolled his eyes and continued to whisper things to her. As they continued to whisper things to each other, the hat nephew (he honestly couldn’t remember any of their names), seemed taken aback, while the green one took a step in front of him, as if to protect him.

Finally, Scrooge came back. “Sorry that took so long, lad. How much work did you get done?” Before Gyro could respond, Scrooge noticed the cousins there. “Lads! What did I tell you about distracting the workers at the restaurant? Go home, and we can talk when I get back.” The siblings both gave a silent nod, and walked out of the room, hand in hand, while the other two followed (not without the green one giving one last dirty look at Gyro.)

Scrooge sighed. “Sorry about that, lad. I know how much those four could be a handful.” Meanwhile, Gyro was silently freaking out. He knew that the children would tell their uncle about how he snapped at them, and then what would happen? Would Scrooge get angry at him? Would their cooking lessons end? “Even though they’re handfuls, I still love ‘em all to death. Would hate to see any of them hurt.” Oh boy. Gyro was in trouble, all right. “They didn’t bother you too much, did they?”

“Oh no, th-they were just fine,” Gyro lied, his voice a little shaky. “They just-just asked me some questions, is all.” Scrooge gave a nod, and had a small smile on his face.

“Yes, the four are quite a curious bunch. Always want to learn more. Always exploring and asking people questions.” Scrooge came over to help Gyro with the soup. “Della and Donald are the most devilish children I’ve ever met. Always causing trouble, those two.” Scrooge chuckled, seeming to be lost in memories. “Once, the two completely wrecked the foyer. Have no idea what the two were doing, but they seemed to be having fun.”

Scrooge seemed to forget about the soup, retelling stories about his niece and nephews. Gyro’s heart ached as Scrooge praised his children. He never had someone praise or compliment him, and hearing Scrooge say compliments towards his children just made him yearn for someone to compliment him.

“Oh, it seems the soup’s about done. Why don’t you grab some bowls, lad?” Gyro stayed silent, as he filled the bowls with soup. Handing one of the bowls to Scrooge, Gyro became more and more anxious. What if the soup wasn’t good enough in Scrooge’s eyes? What if he accidentally did something wrong with it, and something bad happened to Scrooge?

Swallowing down his fears, he ate a spoonful of his soup, and Scrooge did the same. It was...actually better than Gyro anticipated. It wasn’t as good as Scrooge’s (nowhere near as good), but it was still pretty good. 

Scrooge gave him a warm smile. “Not bad, laddie. This soup is quite delightful. Could use a little work, yes, but great for your first soup.” Gyro smiled brightly at the praise, warmth spreading through his chest.

“Thank you sir,” Gyro said, in a quiet voice. He felt tears starting to form in his eyes, but he wasn’t quite sure why. Possibly from all of the praise, and that someone actually  _ cared _ about him. He quickly wiped the tears away, and was thankful that Scrooge didn’t noticed.

“It’s getting late, lad,” Scrooge mentioned, checking his watch. “What time do you need to be back?”

“In all honesty, I don’t think they even noticed that I left.”

Scrooge frowned. “I’m sure that’s not true, lad.” Gyro didn’t reply; he just gave a shrug. Scrooge sighed. “Well, I suppose you should be leaving now.” Gyro gave a nod, and started to leave the room. “Say, lad,” Gyro paused at the door. “How about I give you lessons once a month? You have great skills in the kitchen, you just need to sharpen them. I can see you worker in this industry.”

“That...you be wonderful. Thank you so much.” Great, now Gyro felt the tears coming back again. But he wouldn’t let himself cry-at least, not right now.

“Of course, lad. See you in a month.” With that, Gyro left the restaurant, heading back to the orphanage. He was right, no one noticed that he was even gone. 

Just like Scrooge said, he gave Gyro cooking lessons once a month. Gyro was always so happy on those days, but then it was back to the same, boring orphanage. The cousins never seemed to tell on Gyro to their uncle, or at least Scrooge never said anything. His anxieties soon left, as he got more and more comfortable with Scrooge. He always felt so happy whenever he got praised by him, almost to tears, because he never really had someone there for him. He never had someone there for him, someone who actually took time for him.

The cousins slowly started to get used to him, too. He apologized to them, and it seemed that they already forgave him, except for the brother. He never talked to Gyro, but he soon learned from his uncle that the kid never spoke to anyone; only to his sister and uncle. He felt like he was becoming apart of their family. He was so happy, he wanted to cry.

And when he heard that he was actually going to be apart of the family, did he finally cry (with Scrooge there to comfort him).

**Author's Note:**

> This AU does not belong to me, it belongs to Ashley's side blog on Tumblr, so go check it out!  
> dt-restaurant-au.tumblr.com  
> I hope you enjoyed this! Kudos and comments are always appreciated! Thanks!


End file.
